To boost the farm and food sector, the Economic Survey on Friday prescribed huge investment in areas such as research, irrigation and warehousing, besides calling for subsidy rationalisation and setting up of a national common market for agri-produce...

Investors looking for the Union Budget for 2015-16 on Saturday to tackle fertiliser subsidies are likely to be disappointed, because sources say the government plans to largely maintain the current regime.

Even as the government finds itself under fire for the Land Acquisition Ordinance, there are now concerns over whether it is choosing a backdoor route of making food subsidy payments by cash transfers.

On January 7 this year, the Centre decided to give subsidy to these three urea plants, which uses naptha as feedstock, for the next 100 days to restart these facilities which were closed since October, 2014.

Sugar stocks were in focus on Thursday on hopes that the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs may approve a proposal to extend export subsidy to 1.4 million tonnes of raw sugar in the ongoing 2014-15 marketing year.

A panel set up by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month urged the government to lower the number of beneficiaries to 40 per cent from 67 per cent as part of efforts to trim the $18.64 billion food subsidy bill that drains stretched state finances.

The direct benefit transfer could help the government save as much as Rs 25,000 crore in food subsidy expenditure by eliminating costs associated with procuring, distributing and storing foodgrains, the research house says.

A total of Rs 15,981 crore in revenue was lost by fuel retailers on selling PDS kerosene and domestic LPG at government-controlled rates in October-December. Of this, the Finance Ministry issued letter providing for less than one-third of this as cas...

The disinvestment of a 5 per cent stake in state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) appears unlikely this fiscal year (2014-15) as the liquidity situation in the market is under stress after recent mega share sales while the subsidy issue remains un...